Since a magnetic tape accommodated in a tape cassette is fixed at its end on a hub, when a tape cassette player finishes its operation for winding the tape, unless a tape traveling and driving mechanism is brought into its stop state, tape travel is stopped but some load is applied to a motor and a rotation transmission mechanism, which results in a trouble thereof, consumption of a power source battery or the like. Therefore, some tape cassette players have mechanisms for detecting completion of the tape winding operations and for automatically stopping the tape travelling and driving mechanisms.
Particularly, in consideration of a tape being wound around a capstan shaft in an auto reverse tape cassette player or the like, it is desirable to always detect a tape end at a tape takeup side in both of a forward travel direction and a reverse travel direction, to thereby control a switching of the tape travelling and driving mechanism.
For this end, a conventional auto reverse tape cassette player is arranged so as to have a detecting means provided at a takeup reel turntable and a supply reel turntable, regardless of whether a tape travel direction is a forward travel direction or a reverse travel direction, and the detecting means on the takeup side and the supply side respectively detect a tape end upon a forward tape travel and a reverse tape travel to thereby control the switching of the tape travelling and driving mechanism.
Since the auto reverse tape cassette player has the tape end detecting means at both of the tape takeup reel stand and the tape supply reel turntable, a reflection plate and a sensor are required for each of the tape end detecting means. Therefore, an arrangement thereof is complicated, and a means for assembling the auto reverse tape cassette player is required. Further, since two photo interrupters which are expensive as sensors are employed, a manufacturing cost thereof is increased.
Since each of the reel turntables has a small diameter and the reflection plate of the tape end detecting means attached thereto is also formed so as to have a small diameter, a relative relationship between the reflection plate and the photo interrupter serving as a sensor is easily fluctuated, which is likely to lead to malfunctions.